


Breaking

by Dazeventura6



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, M/M, Major Illness, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-11 15:01:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11716800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazeventura6/pseuds/Dazeventura6
Summary: A routine checkup reveals disturbing illness....and it doesn't stop there.





	Breaking

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry. So very sorry. Consider this a tissue warning. I've been told you will need lots.  
> Betaed by GhostInTheBAU

They had finally been happy. They had a few years filled with love and happiness despite Bond’s penchant for getting himself in trouble and Q’s constant worry about him, and they had found a balance. When Bond had come back to MI6 after the spectre debacle he had finally confessed his love for Q and instead of riding away into the sunset with the girl as everyone expected him to do he had stayed, stayed with Q. 

Bond did eventually retire from the field a year into their relationship. He’d said it was to spare Q grey hairs, and Q was grateful even though he would have never asked it of the man. Mallory persuaded Bond to come back as a trainer and tactician for missions, and the ex-agent thrived in his new role even as Q thrived in his. 

Then a routine check up at the doctor and an offhand comment about him being the age where it was probably best if he had a colonoscopy had them arguing over it for weeks. Bond being inclined to ignore it until it became a problem and Q wanting to know if there was a problem so they could deal with it sooner rather than later.

Finally, Q’s worry convinced the older man to take the test and Q was with him all the way through. Even though he had all but insisted on it, Q had not expected the news to be quite so bad. Bond had cancer, and it was the kind that was pervasive. The doctors recommended an aggressive regimen of surgery followed by chemotherapy to combat it. 

Months, and several rounds of chemo and surgeries later, Q was at his wit's end. Nothing seemed to be helping. The doctors had finally given up hope and given James only a couple more months at most to live. Q had wanted to bring James home and care for him there, but James had insisted on going into the Hospice since he could see how much it was draining Q and he didn’t want the younger man to run himself down completely taking care of him.

 

“I don't know how much more of this I can take, Eve. It's breaking me. I try to be strong for him. Honestly, I do, but I don't know if I can take it anymore. I can't bear to see him in so much pain,” Q sobbed one evening in Eve’s arms.

 

The two friends were taking a rare night together since James had insisted that Q rest for a night. They were supposed to go out for drinks but Q had not been in the mood to go out. Shortly after the first drink, he had collapsed on the sofa crying out all his grief, pain and exhaustion. Eve could do nothing more than hold on to her friend, her own heart breaking for both men. Life really wasn’t fair.

“Sometimes I really wish I could just run away from it all and pretend none of this was happening. That the love of my life wasn’t dying slowly and painfully and there was nothing I could do to help,” Q cried, burying his face in his hands.

“Don’t say that. Don’t. You do help. You help by being there for him and showing him just how much you love him,” Moneypenny said, wishing desperately that there was something more she could do.  

Q just cried brokenly for a while longer till he fell asleep on the couch. Eve covered him with a blanket and left him there to sleep it off before leaving to call a cab to take her home. She was so distracted by her own tears that she neglected to lock the door properly and didn’t notice the men who slipped silently from the shadows to enter the building as she left.

 

The next morning when Q didn’t show up bright and early to see James, the older man joked with Alec who had stayed with him overnight that the Quartermaster was probably just sleeping off his hangover. By the time it was noon James was almost frantic with worry, his illness making it hard for him to cope with his feelings like he always had before. He finally convinced Alec to go check on him and make sure the other man was alright.

When Alec reached their flat he found it empty. He walked through the flat looking for signs of the quartermaster, but he found none. All the quartermaster's things were missing. It was like he had never lived there. Alec immediately called MI6 to see if they could track the man, cursing him mentally for worrying his sick friend. 

It seemed to the green-eyed spy that the younger man had had enough of the responsibility of caring for his sick partner and run off. He then returned to the hospital to reassure James that the quartermaster was just delayed by an emergency at work and would be by shortly. James was, however, not fooled by these lies and his worry for the younger man increased ten fold.

A day later and there was still no sign of the quartermaster. It was as if he had vanished off the face of the earth and everyone was sure that there was nobody but Q who could cause someone to disappear so thoroughly.

Even Moneypenny who had initially tried to defend her friend was losing faith and didn’t know what to think, especially after the last conversation she had had with her friend. James had finally wheedled the truth from Alec that Q was missing and no matter what anyone said he refused to believe that his Q would leave him like that. He knew the younger man loved him too much to cause him such worry but he couldn’t get anyone else to listen to his fears.

********************

When Q woke up he was tied to a chair and he could feel the drugs he had been injected with still fuzzing his mind. He sighed tiredly to himself cursing the timing of this kidnapping and sure that someone would come looking for him when he didn’t show up to see James in the morning. His only thoughts were that this would worry James and he didn’t want that to make James sicker. 

The door opened and a woman entered. She was tall and slim and dressed impeccably in a blue suit that set off her dark hair and eyes perfectly.

“Hello Q. You don’t mind if I call you Q do you? If you are hoping that MI6 will rush in to the rescue then you can forget about that; we have made it look like you packed up and ran away because the burden of caring for your sick partner got to be too much for you. And all trackers and devices have been removed and neutralized as though you had done it yourself. You see, we have some rather talented hackers of our own, and while they may not be as good as you on their own, as a team they are just as good if not better,” she said in a soft lilting voice, every bit of her face and expressions completely in control.

The more she talked the more Q’s heart dropped at the thought of not being able to see James just one last time before he died. He hoped that the people he had worked with for so many years would think better of him, but he knew looking at the woman that she would not have left anything to chance. Heartsick, he knew there was nothing more left for him but to try and escape on his own as he would not give them what they wanted no matter what they tried.

They started with his feet, breaking every bone in them with a bat and moved upwards breaking each bone of his legs as they went. Q found his body betraying him as it had already been drained of its physical and emotional reserves in taking care of Bond and being strong for him over the past year, and soon he hadn’t the strength to even open his eyes let alone scream.

When they shattered his kneecaps with a well-placed blow, he found his body giving up and his already bruised and battered heart just gave out. The woman was very unhappy that her new toy had been broken so easily and took out the rest of her anger on his corpse before dumping it on the side of the road about 10 miles from Skyfall.

*******************

James tried, again and again, to get someone to listen to him about his missing lover but everybody was completely convinced that the younger man had simply run away, so much so that James began to wonder himself if he was mistaken. Every time he began to think that way he would remember the love and sadness in his quartermaster’s eyes and he would dismiss the thought once again. The worry over his love seemed to worsen his already declining condition, until 10 days after Q had disappeared MI6 finally found his body beaten to a bloody pulp near Skyfall.

It was clear to everyone that Q had been tortured to death, and since there had been no incursions into their network and no activity online that had Q’s signature they were sure that he hadn’t given up any secrets. Moneypenny was devastated by the news of her friend's death in such a horrific manner and guilt ridden that she had thought the worst of him and not done more to find him. Alec, also ridden with guilt, set out to find the perpetrators--finally finding them and destroying every trace of them he could find in the most brutal manner possible.

Nobody knew how to break the news to James, but eventually, M was forced to tell the dying man the truth about his lover. James cried and railed against everyone, blaming them for not finding his Q sooner, but it was no use. He pushed everyone away and refused to see them. Two days later his shattered heart finally gave up trying to beat in a world that had so failed his young love.

*********************************

James opened his eyes and looked around. He looked like he had when he first met Q, in fact, he was wearing the exact same suit he had been wearing when he met the man for the first time at the national gallery. James looked up at the sound of a well-loved voice.

“Hello, love. Took you long enough,” Q said, holding out his hand to his lover.

“I never believed you ran away,” James replied, taking his partner's hand.

“I know, you silly man. You worried yourself to death,” Q said, smiling and cupping James’ cheek in his free hand.

“I couldn’t let you have all the fun now could I?” James joked teasingly as both men laughed together and faded into the distance.

 


End file.
